The auxiliary power unit (APU) of an Air India aircraft caught fire at Delhi airport while undergoing repair on Wednesday night.
The aircraft, Boeing B777-200LR (VT-ALF), was bound for a flight to San Francisco. The incident took place while the aircraft was still at the bay.
#WATCH Air India Delhi to San Francisco (Boeing 777) flight caught fire in Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) yesterday at Delhi airport. Fire started during AC repair. Air India terms it minor incident, plane was empty at the time of repair work, fire was doused immediately. pic.twitter.com/Og790FVABE
ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2019
Air India authorities have said that maintenance work was going on and added that there were no passengers on the plane at the time of the incident.
In a statement released on Thursday, Air India said, "Yesterday night at Delhi when an engineer was doing routine technical examination of an empty aircraft (777), APU auto shut down took place. Airport fire personnel observed black fumes from the APU exhaust and believing it to be a fire hazard sprayed APU and part of the fuselage with foam spray."
Air India added in its statement, "After this event, APU was examined by opening its cowlings and there was no trace of any burn or external damage noticed except for the minor oil leaks traces, which was normal. Detailed inspection is going."
(Inputs from Nagarjun and Pankaj)